OUR VIEW: Weekly TO-DO List

Wonderland will light up holidaysGet the low-down in Rome at TubaChristmasRome budget cut vetoes back to council Wednesday

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Uticaod

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Posted Dec. 16, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Dec. 16, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Wonderland will light up holidays

There's still plenty of time this season to enjoy the annual Wonderland of Lights. But if you're a procrastinator, you might want to get out there this week to take in the holiday splendor.

The gala display lights up the sky in East Utica and can be found on the Masonic Care Community campus. Take the Acacia Village entrance off Welsh Bush Road and proceed to the gatehouse, where you will get instructions for your tour.

The light show began in 2002 to benefit the Resource Center for Independent Living, a nonprofit agency that offers a wide range of services to help people with disabilities strive for independence. It has grown through the years and today features a wide assortment of displays.

Beware of the schedule. The display doesn't go through New Year's as it has in the past. But it is open every night from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., through Dec. 26, including Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Admission is $8 per car, $15 for passenger vans, $25 for limousines and $50 for buses and larger vehicles.

Get the low-down in Rome at TubaChristmas

If you've never heard a band filled with tubas playing Christmas carols, then you won't want to miss the area's 2013 version of TubaChristmas, coming Tuesday at 7 p.m. to the Capitol Theater in Rome. Even if you have , it's worth hearing again.

TubaChristmas was created in 1974 by Harvey Phillips, a music professor at Indiana University. It was conceived as a memorial to Phillips' teacher, William J. Bell, long-time tubist with the New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra. Bell, considered the dean of American tubists, was born on Christmas Day 1902 and died in 1971.

TubaChristmas has been around these parts for at least 30 years, originally setting up camp in the former Riverside Mall, and moving a few times since. After a brief hiatus, it returned to the region several years ago, settling in at the Capitol, 220 W. Dominick St. Participating musicians are requested to provide their own stands and a copy of the TubaChristmas songbook if they have one. Copies will be available at the theater for purchase or loan. Musician sign-up begins at 4 p.m. There's a $10 charge for musicians, but the concert is free to the public.

Rome budget cut vetoes back to council Wednesday

The budget ball will be back in the Rome Common Council court on Wednesday when they consider the 2014 spending plan cuts vetoed by Mayor Joseph Fusco.

Fusco's original $42.11 million budget was presented Nov. 13, but before approving it, the council trimmed $191,672 from 30 budget lines, bringing the budget to $41.92 million. The cuts brought the mayor's 1.67 percent tax increase down to .48 percent.

Fusco later vetoed $51,277 of those cuts. The rejected cuts would bring the tax increase to .7 percent for residents inside the incorporated district and .5 percent for the rest of the city's residents.

Page 2 of 2 - The council could override the veto with a super-majority of five votes. Finance Committee Chairman Frank Anderson, R-5, said he believes they have votes necessary.